Su Qin Arrived in Qi from Yan
苏秦自燕之齐
Su Qin arrived in the state of Qi from the state of Yan, King Min of Qi interviewed him at the Southern Huazhang Gate of the capital of Linzi. King Min of Qi said, ^Well, you are here! The king of the state of Qin has sent Wei Ran here to force me to accept the title of Di. What do you think of that?” Su Qin replied, “Your Majesty asked me this question suddenly. Trouble always develops from very inconspicuous and subtle signs. Now if you don’t listen to Qin, Qin will be bitter towards you. If do you listen to it, other states in the world will be bitter towards you. It would be better that you accept this title on the surface to cool the enmity of Qin. But in fact, you can postpone addressing yourself as Di to cool the discontentment of other states in the world. If the king of Qin addresses himself as Di and other states in the world submit to him，you can also address yourself as Di. If this is the case， although you might not be the first one to become Di, it won’t cause any damage to the title at all. If the king of Qin addresses himself as Di but other states refuse to submit to him, you won’t address yourself as Di. Thus you can win over other states. This will be a big advantage to you.
【原文】
苏秦自燕之齐，见于华章南门。齐王曰嘻，子之来也！秦使魏冉 致帝，子以为何如？”对曰王之问臣也卒，而患之所从生者微。今不 听，是恨秦也；听之，是恨天下也。不如听之以卒秦，勿庸称也以为天 下。秦称之，天下听之，王亦称之。先后之事，帝名为无伤也。秦称之 而天下不听，王因勿称，其于以收天下，此大资也/’
【今译】
苏秦从燕国到齐国去，齐闵王在华章南门接见他。齐闵王说，“嗨， 你来了！秦王派魏冉来让我接受帝号，你以为怎么样？”苏秦回答说: “大王这个问题问得很仓促，但是祸患的产生却是非常不易察觉的。如 今要是不听从，就会招惹秦国的怨恨；听从了，就会招致天下各国的怨 恨。不如答应下来应付秦国，为天下各国着想，先不用这个称号。秦王 称帝后，如果天下各国服从它，那大王就也称帝。事情虽然有先后，但 对于“帝”这一名号却没有损伤。如果秦王称帝后天下各国不服气，大王就不称帝，以此来赢得其他国家，这样做太有利了